Prozac

The US government is not going to divulge sources and methods when it comes to intelligence gathering. It never has and it never will. I would think the reasons for that would be obvious to almost everyone on this forum. The “proof” will be when Putin makes his moves & the world sees his shenanigans for what they are. Help me understand your concerns: Is it your belief that the US is secretly planning on committing troops to the fight for Ukraine? If that were the case, I would expect to be seeing large scale mobilizations going on yesterday. Eight thousand troops to Poland is nothing more than a symbolic gesture of our commitment to NATO.

Again, no one is beating war drums. The idea is to prevent a war.

Is there an acronym for that? Dude, I get lack of trust. I was a First Lieutenant when the WMD claims we’re made & altered the course of our careers forever. But going full “global cabal” is a bit much. Additionally there are many (not necessarily directed at you) who seem to want to see the Biden admin fail no matter the cost to our nation, hence the rampant defamation of virtually every American institution imaginable. WRT to this particular issue, Putin has indeed surrounded Ukraine with an invasion force. He has used cyberattacks, information warfare, fake media reports, false flag operations, and countless other non traditional warfare tactics in the past in places like Georgia, Lithuania, and Ukraine. It follows that he is prepared to use similar methods ahead of and in conjunction with any possible conventional attack. Further…..and this is important……no one in our government is attempting to use this intel as a pretext for American military action. It has been stated countless times that American combat actions are off the table. We have been candid with the Ukrainians and they have stated they do not expect American or NATO troops to fight on their behalf. Our State Department is revealing portions of intelligence in an effort to head Putin off at the pass and avoid a war altogether. I find it difficult to understand why that is a position that is so hard to support and why so many Americans continue to insist on selling our nation’s institutions down the river. They may be flawed, but I’ll take CIA over Putin’s FSB ten out of ten times. When did that become a controversial opinion?

So we expose sources and methods to appease the AP? Seems to me that the purpose for revealing this intel publicly is likely an attempt to deter the Russians from attempting such an operation. Is the AP suggesting that the Russians are not on invasion footing? Why are so many Americans willing to give Putin a pass lately?

Had a buddy when we were copilots who claimed he uttered the words “I completely disagree with every decision the aircraft commander has made up to this point” every 30 minutes just to have it on the tapes. 😂

Story written by a guy who calls himself “peaceforever” and edited by someone called “Saturn”. Their source was probably this site. Seems legit. 😐

Easier to accept when it supports the narrative you believe in. To be honest we’re all probably guilty of it to some degree.

Here are my thoughts: I missed the camaraderie of squadron life. I missed being around mission focused people coming together to get a job done. I missed running a mission in a complex, dynamic environment. (Part 121 flying is boring by design) My wife missed the built in support group. There is a lot I didn’t miss….the negatives are covered ad nauseam in other threads. I haven’t looked back though. You’ve obviously done some research…the money is far better than AD. But it’s the QOL upgrades that make it truly worth while. When I’m done with a trip, I go home until the next one. Simple as that. No 2 hour post flight paperwork session & debrief. No additional duties. No exercises. No inspections. My time off is my time off. Period. I live where I want which means my wife and I are near family. My kids see their grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins far more than they ever could if I had stayed in. I lost a parent a couple years ago and have another dealing with MS. I’m very glad to have had the ability to spend time with the one that passed and to be around for the one with health issues. My wife has been able to put down roots & finally focus on her career. In addition to having a nice second income, it has been a boon to her sanity (happy wife, happy life). For all of those reasons, leaving the AF has turned out to be an excellent decision for me personally. I look back at my AD career with fondness, but it’s a chapter of my life that’s closed. That said, I know guys who tried the airline thing and said F that. Some personalities will not jive with the monotony, regardless of other benefits. Of course for many, this can be mitigated by buying an RV-8 & getting your upside down fix in your spare time (or taking up any number of other expensive hobbies…..currently researching carbon mountain bikes for when ski season closes).

FAR better commuter situation at FedEx. UPS has a similar “travel bank” but you only keep 2/3 & it expires if you don’t use it. You are not allowed to use travel bank funds to purchase a ticket unless you were authorized a ticket in the first place. Basically what this means is that the travel bank is only useful for covering the difference in ticket costs. Example: You have a trip that starts with a commercial from Louisville to Minneapolis. If you lived in Denver and had travel bank funds available you could use them to cover any cost difference in the ticket. That’s really it. Can’t even use travel bank to upgrade class of service. One of the biggest differences between Brown & Purple IMO and could be a factor if someone had a choice between the two. On the flip side, if you are based anywhere outside ANC at UPS it is relatively easy to commute on a browntail and you are protected by the commuter policy if you had a confirmed seat and are bumped for some reason (only if on a UPS aircraft). ANC can be a bit trickier depending on where you live. It can be difficult if going through SDF thanks to the pure volume of people attempting to do that commute. West Coast generally has a lot of offline options available but no protection if you’re jumpseating and your plan falls apart. The good news is that the pay is good enough that you might not mind buying a ticket now and then to remove some of the stress. I agree with posters above stating that living where you want is one of the major perks of the job. If you can manage to be domiciled someplace where you want to live, congratulations, you’ve basically won the lottery. But I wouldn’t let the prospect of commuting steer you away from a good job. The one thing I wouldn’t recommend is commuting to both an airline and an ARC job.

At the same time ban all of them from participating in the stock market for the duration of their terms. Radical reform of campaign finance rules while we’re at it.

It seems like you want to couch the issue squarely in the political context. While I agree the Biden admin has had some missteps here (I will admit, I was genuinely unaware the admin had lifted sanctions), I believe all administrations since the end of the cold war have avoided a cohesive Russia policy & if there was ever a time for an issue to transcend political spats, this is it. Like it or not, Biden will be dealing with this issue for at least the next three years. I think there is a track here that Rs and Ds can actually agree on. Let’s not shoot our selves in the foot just to hurt our perceived political enemies. BTW I agree 100% with you on nuclear power.

No, it’s a regional issue. Even with Keystone, it’s far cheaper for Germany to buy energy from Russia & we’d be in the same situation. I actually agree that we’d all be better off with some form of Keystone. But the whole reason Russian energy is a thing is because Europe doesn’t want to pay to ship fossil fuels across oceans.

Uhhhh…… https://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/senate-neil-gorsuch-nuclear-option-236937

My bet is conservatives would be using the exact same tactics if the tables were turned. Both parties seem to be more than willing to use “nuclear” options these days. Your argument is valid but I doubt you’d be making it if the shoe was on the other foot.

Good read. The “Ukraine isn’t willing to fight” naysayers would do well to note Ukrainian successes against superior Russian forces in Donetsk in 2014/15. Also an excellent discussion advocating for strong US leadership and implications far beyond Ukraine if we abdicate our position as a global leader.

For once I agree with you in that this would be the smartest course of action for the Dems. But I'm going to disagree that they are smart enough to execute this plan. And while I think there are some interesting potential Republican prospects, I have my doubts that that party can get out from under the Trump/populist faction. I guess I'm kind of pessimistic at the moment. I expect at least another four years of dumpster fire whether its Trump 2.0 or Biden gridlocked with an uncooperative (to say the least) Republican congress.

Merely shedding light on the fact that many here are willing to accept these institutions as the gold standard in their day to day without batting an eyelash, yet throw them under the bus when it suits their political agenda. The point seems lost on more than a few.

Imperfect as the system may be, I believe I'd much rather depend on a taxpayer funded organization subject to oversight by duly elected officials to determine the safety of food and drugs I put in my body vs some yahoo trying to fund his next Lamborghini with youtube clicks.

Not sure what supporting Keystone would do to help the Ukraine situation. As far as Nord Stream 2, wasn’t that developed and largely completed during the Trump admin? The Biden admin has been threatening to sanction it since last summer AFIK.

This Big Pharma argument is so disingenuous. If you refuse to trust pharmaceutical companies, the CDC, and the FDA, fine. I have no problem with that. Just be intellectually honest and stop shopping at the grocery store. Stop taking your Tylenol, your Prilosec, and your Viagra. Go grow your own vegetables, raise your own meat, and stop taking all medications. To do anything otherwise means you implicitly trust the system in place and are talking out of your ass.

Honest question: What would you do differently vs. the current admin?

I did not forget. Obama's Russia policy was inadequate in hindsight, as was every president's back to Clinton. Now its time to straighten up and deal with the Russian bear in a more serious and considered manner.

Short sighted, purely politically motivated, and destructive point of view. Putin’s newly emboldened actions owe as much to the Bush & Trump admins as they do to the current admin’s. Our Russia policies over the past 20 years will have repercussions over the next 50. The issue goes far beyond the current petty politics in the US. Be weary of framing everything to suit your own political views.

Obviously reality dictates that Germany is still largely dependent on traditional fossil fuels, despite their advancement & promotion of cleaner energy sources. Nord Stream II has been in the works for a long time and anyone with a brain could see that the Germans weren’t going to sustain themselves with windmills alone. My personal feeling is that the Russian aggression issue transcends America’s current culture war obsession and will have consequences that will span multiple US election cycles. I’m old enough to remember the Cold War, which dictated American policies, both foreign and domestic for the better part of five decades. It sure looks like we are firmly established in the early stages of a second Cold War & we would do well to keep our eye on the ball if we wish to stay ahead of our adversary’s OODA loop and in command of the “battlefield”.

I’d wager that we still maintain a very robust HUMINT capability wrt Russia. We may be sharing some of our assessment publicly in order to get the response we want from countries like Germany who are currently more concerned about how their own citizens will heat their homes for the remainder of the winter.